GUIDANCE RELATING TO RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA.

SEC. 824. GUIDANCE RELATING TO RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA.(a) Review of Guidance.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall review guidance issued by the military departments on the implementation of section 2320(e) of title 10, United States Code, to ensure that such guidance is consistent with the guidance issued by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and the requirements of this section. Such guidance shall be designed to ensure that the United States—(1) preserves the option of competition for contracts for the production and sustainment of systems or subsystems that are developed exclusively with Federal funds as defined in accordance with the amendments made by this section; and(2) is not required to pay more than once for the same technical data.(b) Rights in Technical Data.—Section 2320(a) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—(1) in paragraph (2)(F)(i)—(A) by redesignating subclauses (I) and (II) as subclauses (II) and (III), respectively; and(B) by inserting before subclause (II), as so redesignated, the following new subclause (I):“(I) rights in technical data described in subparagraph (A) for which a use or release restriction has been erroneously asserted by a contractor or subcontractor;”; and(2) in paragraph (3), by striking “for the purposes of definitions under this paragraph” and inserting “for the purposes of paragraph (2)(B), but shall be considered to be Federal funds for the purposes of paragraph (2)(A)”.(c) Validation of Proprietary Data Restrictions.—Section 2321(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking “A challenge” and inserting “Except as provided in subparagraph (C), a challenge”; and(2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph (C):124 STAT. 4270 “(C) The limitation in this paragraph shall not apply to a case in which the Secretary finds that reasonable grounds exist to believe that a contractor or subcontractor has erroneously asserted a use or release restriction with regard to technical data described in section 2320(a)(2)(A) of this title.”.